I don't usually publish about my Latino heritage or
livelihood, with the exception of ranting about the maldito Tri. But the former
company McDonnell Douglas really had its heart set out with its clients in
Mexico. In fact, two airliners had variants designed specifically for their use
in Mexico City. Now, it isn't because the city has some exclusivity from other cosmopolitan
global cities (although being the one of the largest in area and population
doesn't hurt a bit). The reason Mexico City (or DF in Spanish for Distrito Federal or Federal District,
kind of like how people call the US capital D.C. from District of Columbia) got
special treatment from this Long Beach, CA manufacturer was because it is a city
that is hot, humid, and high. While this sounds like a splendid way to spend an
intimate night with a few people, they are three ingredients that combine to
give a groin-kick to an aircraft's engines.

Tom Hanks starring as nature and college kid as the jet engine

For starters, have you ever exercised during the year? If
you have, did you notice that you are out of air quicker in the summer than in
the fall, or winter? Hot air is less dense than cold air. That means the
molecules are further apart and you need to gasp more air to get the same
amount of air molecules than in cooler weather. Same thing happens for a jet
engine. These machines needs to swallow more air to produce the same thrust as
in a cooler day. So an aircraft takes longer to get more thrust and might use
more runway as a result.

So we move on to humid air. For those who lived somewhere
that becomes swampy in the summer, you also notice that you are short of breath
when it gets really humid. Even as a couch potato, you might try to desperately
find a nice place with air conditioning. At least I do, but I live in the
desert and those humid places are mythical lands that I sometimes visit when I
get the courage to travel to those spots on my map that say "here be dragons."

The aircraft engines are like a jogger in a humid area in
the summer. The jogger usually is short of breath and has to gasp more
frequently if they are accustomed to nicer weather. The same thing happens to
the jet engine. The machine is pushing to get that thrust with the same air and
needs more time to get the aircraft to a proper speed to take off. This means
it needs a longer runway.

And we get to higher altitudes. As you go higher air becomes
less dense...and you get the idea; the jogger is being revived by a passing
police officer, couch potato is inside ordering a number 6 at an air
conditioned Wendy's, and I'm breathing through my shirt in a vain hope that it
will improve my breathing. So you are
now saying, Hot, humid, high = longer runways, case solved, right? Not in the
case of Mexico City.

The Benito Juarez International Airport is like many urban
airports where it was built in the outskirt of a city in an era long ago but is
now deep within the metropolitan complex due to population growth. Local
politics have prevented moving it elsewhere and extending the runways means
fighting with nearby neighborhoods to demolish them to extend the asphalt. The
runways were originally built for the original Jet Era of the 1960s where
jetliners were single aisled and the size of a Southwest (or Easyjet, Air India
Express, GOL Airways, etc. depending where you are from) aircraft. They were
not built for the A380s, 777, 747, and other massive jumbo jets going in and
out of this airport today. So when jumbo jets first came to the scene in the
1970s, there was a problem. The airliners needed more runway than what was
available in Mexico City but also needed to keep its cargo and seats to profit
from these flights. The problem was so serious that Boeing Aircraft Company
considered installing Rocket Assisted TakeOff (RATO) devices onto Mexicana
727s. These are essentially rockets slapped onto an airliner to get it to
takeoff. Military aircraft normally use RATOs to get to the air (like the Blue
Angels C-130 transport).

I swear I'm not making this up!

They even filmed a test flight with these rockets:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPn_iN3eeBA)

So when McDonnell Douglas designed its three engined big
fella, the DC-10, they had in mind many versions. The DC-10-10 would not have
the middle center landing gear and less powerful engine but would serve
domestic flights in the United States of America. The DC-10-30 and DC-10-40 would
have more powerful engines, larger fuel tanks, and a central main landing gear
to carry more and travel intercontinental. But in the middle was the DC-10-15.

This aircraft was specifically designed for two airlines, Aeroméxico,
and Mexicana. This aircraft had the same
powerful General Electric CF6-50C2F (just say the "CF6 family of engines"
and you get a gold star sticker amongst pilots if you aren't the aviation nerd
type) engines of the DC-10-30 but had the body and fuel tanks of a DC-10-10.
This meant that it was a lighter aircraft with more powerful engines. And
following Jeremy Clarkson's concept of POWEEERRRR over everything (or greater thrust
vs. weight ratio) you have an aircraft capable of getting to the air with the
available asphalt at Benito Juarez.

And there was also a similar story with McDonnell Douglas' smaller
airliner, the DC-9. Although not specifically designed for Mexico City, there
was a DC-9-20 that had the powerful engines of the DC-9-30 but was the smaller
size of a DC-9-10. But the Mexican airliners had no problem using the normal
variants in Mexico City.

As a result, the DC-9-15 and DC-9-30 variants will haunt my memories
as some of the scariest rides with the fondly cheap but hilariously bad
maintained Aero California fleet.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

This is the US Navy E-6 Mercury TACAMO (“TAke Charge And Move Out”).
There are few military aircraft that carry grace and dignity into
combat. This is
Grace Kelly with wings and her gloved hand hovering above the "Little
Red Button." This modernized Boeing 707-300 carries all of the essential
electronics and staff to command many units in the air, including its
original task, giving the launch codes to all US ballistic missile
nuclear submarines. And its reach of power stretches the globe. It was
hovering over England when it was commanding the mission to kill Osama
Bin Laden in Pakistan. This dame is too dignified to fight on her own,
but has very powerful friends itching to fight on speed dial.

It has been way too long since I last wrote on this blog. It hasn't died, much. It isn't abandoned either, not by a long shot. I have been quite busy and left this page to wither somewhat. Although the Playboy Bunny Jet article still has a lot of traffic visiting it, other parts have languished. I tried to turn this page into an academic experiment, then as a half and half article. But now I might keep it alive with simple and short bits and an actual article once in a while. So to all of the spammerbots still connected, just stick around because I will bring some cool stuff here.

Also, I am a Latino and have noticed that many friends, family members, coworkers, and allies whom speak Spanish as their native tongue. To help address this issue, I will try to publish my posts in both English y Español.